Making the Most of the Time: Fun Date Night Ideas in Vancouver, WA
It’s been said that if something is important to you, you’ll make time for it. However, it’s also true that we’re often driven by the urgency of “now.” Our lives are driven by the pressing needs of the moment. It’s not that we take what we care about for granted; it’s just that we may not be paying as much attention as we should.For [...]
Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media on Teens
Social media is neither inherently good nor inherently bad. It has an upside and a downside and can affect the mental health of teenagers in both positive and negative ways. In this article, we'll consider some positive and negative effects of social media on teens. Positive Effects of Social Media on Teens On the plus side, it can help teens stay in touch with friends, [...]
Facing an Empty Nest: Marriage Advice for a Change In Seasons
When you’re married to someone for a while, it’s fair to say that the marriage you got into and the one you’re in now aren’t necessarily the same thing. That probably requires an explanation. A marriage is a living and breathing thing, and as you change, the marriage changes too. Sure, on paper you’re still married to the same person, but people grow and [...]
PTSD and Relationships: How PTSD Can Affect the Health of Your Relationships
Relationships are both beautiful and complex. If you or a loved one has PTSD, it’s important to understand how the symptoms of PTSD affect not only your well-being, but your relationships as well. PTSD and Its Signs Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an acute anxiety disorder that can occur after someone experiences a traumatic event. These traumatic events may include (but are not limited to) [...]
What You Need to Know About Disenfranchised Grief
Everyone will experience the loss of a loved one. However, there are also times when people experience a different loss that others do not acknowledge as a loss. Whether or not others understand, losing someone or something important is real. The grief related to this type of loss is termed disenfranchised grief. When a person has been deprived of the right to grieve, they [...]
Helpful and Unhelpful Ways of Getting Over a Breakup
No one likes rejection, and no one enjoys experiencing the feeling of loss. A breakup, whether you initiated it or it just landed in your lap, is not a pleasant thing to endure or put someone else through. When a relationship ends, that reality happens for any number of reasons, and it will affect the parties involved in different ways. How one responds to [...]
Couples Counseling: When You Feel Unappreciated in Your Marriage
We all have expectations of others. For example, if we open a door for someone, we assume they will at least say thank you. Most of these expectations are pleasantries and dictated by our culture’s social norms. But when we start putting expectations on our romantic relationships that go beyond the confines of typical social niceties, it can become detrimental to those relationships and our [...]
Recognizing Abuse In Emotionally Abusive Parents
Thinking the best of your loved ones can allow you to overlook some of their rough edges. This is helpful because any given day can have many irritations that cause distress if they are all taken to heart. Distinguishing between mild irritations, and issues that are more significant and that require you to address them is an important skill. Patterns of abuse in a [...]
Take Every Thought Captive: Disrupting Anxious Thoughts
Have you ever found yourself feeling stuck, repeating the same thoughts, and working through the same scenarios over and over in your mind? Sometimes our minds can feel like they’re running in place. You might be sitting in a meeting, trying to get some sleep, or at your child’s school play and find yourself caught in a cycle of negative, anxious thoughts. Anxiety can [...]
Advice for Newlyweds: I Love You, But Stop Stealing My Fries
Now that you’re married, you’re supposed to become one flesh, a team, a unit – partners in everything, right? While that sounds beautiful in theory, effortless sharing in every aspect of your life isn’t a reality. When you first tie the knot, sharing a home, a bed, vacations, and decision-making sounds romantic. But if you’re like most couples, you’ve probably had a few moments [...]